Not a picture meant to be! • February 6, 2018

Hey ya –

The photo above is of a picture I never intended, but now I’ll have to do it again for real. I should explain that, right?

It’s simple – quite a bit of the painting I do is also printed. I make my marks on one sheet, and while the ink is still really wet, I lay that sheet face down on another and rub. This transfers my marks from one sheet to the other rather imperfectly, which is half the point. I like the unpredictability of the result – – – most of the time!

So, that’s a transfer sheet in my first photo, which has been used multiple times and as you can see, plenty of ink stays put. The picture I was trying to make ended up a disaster, but this sheet began turning into a scene all on it’s own! The truth is that it photographed better than it really looks, which is far too blotchy and muddy. Yet here is the inspiration for a what could be a really good scene. I see a big old mountain top, maybe with a glacier wrapped around it. Yep, I’m probably gonna have to go for it.

I’ll keep you posted –

Your Buddy Bill

PS: here are some flower pictures that were made almost entirely via transfer painting and drawing. As you can see, the method results in very textural, irregular, sometimes blotchy, and always surprising marks!